Presidential Debate `96 Essays - Conservatism In The United States

Presidential Debate `96 In the 1996 presidential debate, there were many controversial points brought up and discussed by the candidates. There were opportunities to turn the debate into a verbal cock fight, but the President was a model of restraint and Senator Dole simply did not choose to aggravate the president to an extreme. When Senator Dole referred to the `92 debate and how the President referred to Bush as Mr. Bush, not Mr. President, and how he himself would address Clinton as Mr. President, it was evident that Dole was going to debate to make Clinton mad enough to make a mistake. Senator Dole was apparently trying to bring out the beast in Clinton, but he kept cool, while Clinton himself made no offensive remarks to Dole. The questions asked brought about straight answers in the beginning, but towards the end, the candidates were repeating themselves because the questions began to lose focus and seemed to overlap enough to cause an answer similar to if not the same as an earlier one. I do admit, though, that the questions did attack key points and some answers that were given did seriously cause some thought not to where the vote is going, but where it will lead us. The answers given were fairly definitive, and the only topic not seriously touched was scandals such as Watergate, etc. The debate was key in helping me decide a now important part of my life. I have decided that I am a Democrat. I found most of what Clinton had said to be closest to what I believe, but there were a few points where I did agree with Dole. Particularly on the quality of life discussion. Clinton argued that the United States was better off, and Dole agreed, but not exactly. Dole brought up the point that there were around 10,000 bankruptcies filed last year, and that taxes were higher, and people were working harder for the same wages. Another Policy of Dole's that I agree very much with is the Gun Check system. I think that it is an idea that is long overdue. The election this year was not as full of mudslinging as past years, but I think it added to the sanity and constructiveness of the debate. Nothing would get done if the candidates were simply vilifying each other.